9781422284926

Enzo looked surprised. “Oh, I had no idea. But what about the stuff you can’t compost?” “Well, there are a lot of different options. Most of the other trash items can be recycled. Cans, plastics, paper, all those can be recycled. This leaves a very small amount of actual trash and it helps keep things with other uses out of landfills .” “And think about this,” Molly said, “I did a research project on recycling last year in school. Twenty recycled cans can be produced with the same amount of energy needed to make only one can from raw materials. And about 80 percent of the glass that makes it into a new glass bottle or jar is recycled glass. So recycling just one glass bottle can make a huge difference!” “I really didn’t know all this. But I am ready to start recycling and composting now,” Enzo declared.

Consider This On average, each person recycles or composts 1.5

pounds (.6 kg) of municipal solid waste each day. This is 1.5 pounds (.6 kg) of waste that does not go to a landfill. But it also saves nearly 3 pounds (1.3 kg) of carbon dioxide emissions . The process of manufactur- ing brand new aluminum cans, glass bottles or cardboard boxes uses en- ergy, which creates carbon dioxide emissions.

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